Evaluation of Different Culture Methods on The Growth Performance of Seaweed (Kappaphycus striatum) in Pelakak Village Waters Lingga District

The seaweed culture activities are relatively new and only few people perform them in Lingga District. Specifically, Kappaphycus striatum has recently been cultured for the last three culture periods. This condition causes the seaweed culturists have no appropriate data associated with a proper culture method, following the water characteristics around the culture area. A study regarding the different culture methods on the growth performance of K. striatum in Pelakak Village waters, Lingga District, Riau Islands has never been reported. This study aimed to determine the effect of different culture methods on the growth performance of Kappaphycus striatum seaweed. This study used a completely randomized block design with three treatments and three replications, namely bottom method (P1), off-bottom (P2), and longline method (P3). There were 351 seaweed seeds with 100 g weight per each seed, that are placed in nine culture plots. The culture plot was constructed as a 4 m × 1.5 m square with wooden stakes at both ends and polyethylene ropes installed at a distance of 0.5 m. Each rope stretch was tied at 0.3 m distance for seed planting. Parameters observed in this study were absolute growth rate, specific growth rate, and production rate of the seaweed. The results showed that the absolute growth rate, specific growth rate, and production rate were affected by the culture method (p<0.05). The seaweed group reared in a longline method (P3) obtained the best results, compared to other methods, at 2.34% per day for specific growth rate and 245.7 g/m 2 for production rate. Therefore, the longline method can be applied in the Pelakak Village waters, Lingga District.